Review: Scrape-A-Round Complete System

We have had a few opportunities now to try out and review the Scrape -A- Round. Scraping off ice from your windshield and windows on your vehicle is always a tedious task. We often are parked inside the garage and don't need to worry about that unless we have gone somewhere and are parked outside. In those instances we have had the opportunity to try this out, plus we had a pretty warm January.

I was sent the complete I scraping system which cells for $18 for the three pack. The blue and the red are virtually the same type of scraper. They are the larger at the scrapers and have an attachment that goes on the top to help chip or scrape away tougher ice. The green ice scraper is actually two ice scrapers in one. The larger end of the green scraper is smaller than the blue and the red but the top of that one removes and has a smaller Scraper on it.

My husband said he really liked how it covered a larger area at one time and seem to remove quicker doing a circular motion than the standard ice creepers that you go back and forth in a narrow strip. The one time we had an issue trying to scrape off was when we had a very thick layer of ice on our vehicle but I don't think any scraper could have really scrape that off where we ended up running the vehicle with the heat on high to help loosen the ice and then used the scraper to scrape the ice off.

You can purchase this on their website, Scrape-A-Round.

Fun Valentine Gift Ideas for Tween Girls and 15% Off Code

Quality, affordable gifts for girls ages 2 to 12. SmitCo has several different diaries with lock and keys and diary sets for girls in Emoji and Diva themes, as well as several different nail art sets to provide hours of fun.

A huge hit is the brand new Mermaid themed scrapbook kit as well as 3 unique princess dress up sets.



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Where Did We Go Wednesday? Science Museum of Minnesota

I honestly think it was 10 months since we have been to the Science Museum of Minnesota. I think we have just been busy and we went to some other science museums when we were traveling and then let our membership lapse, but now we are back and renewed our membership.

Since we had not been there in a while, there were some new things going on including a new exhibit called Sportsology, which was a lot of fun and eventually we did get around to most of the exhibits within this one. Most the exhibits within this one are stuff you actually get to do and be quite physical.

We also saw the new IMAX movie in the OMNI Theater called "A Beautiful Planet", we were at the 2pm showing and it ended up being a sold out show (they show it every hour on the hour!) It was very good and quite interesting and I learned a few things from it. We also did some experiments in the lab there. I was with my daughter and we did an experiment to learn about enzymes in our saliva that break down our food. My son went in to the lab with his dad and did his first experiment in there.

Slow Cooker Browned Ground Beef

This is so easy and convenient you are going to wonder why you haven't been doing this all your life. Browning ground beef is something I typically find very tedious when I have to do it standing over the stove. But not any longer. Just tossed in your desired amount of ground beef Frozen from the freezer into a slow cooker and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Then using a potato masher or a meat matter if you have one of those and mash your meat. It will crumble easily. Be sure to put off any grease in the bottom of your pan that you do not want before mashing the meat. See how simple that is.

Then if I am making taco meat I will put it in the frying pan and cook the ground beef with the seasoning packet and water as per the instructions. I have also done with this method with ground turkey and it works well for that too.

Deciding on a Direction

This past week I know there was quite a lack in posts, but that was because I had pre-written everything for the last 3 weeks and I had not gone any further. I enjoyed that time being with my family over the holidays and being present with them and not documenting everything going on or everything I made in order to blog about it.

Some things have changed with my blogging and I have been considering what direction I want to take with it.

For starters, the blog I was paid to write for (Northern Cheapskate) was sold this past fall and I opted to not contact the new owner about writing for them. I had decided to see the direction the blog decided to take and it is not a direction that I feel my posts fit in to and I have no desire to write posts that fit under that new direction.

I have thought a lot about how much (unpaid, uncompensated in any way) time I spend blogging and frankly it is a lot of work not just to write everything but to share it to find readers. I have also decided over the past couple of years so scale back any reviews I do significantly. I only plan to review things I am actually interested in and have a need/want for it.

I still don't know how much I want to write, after 8 years of writing here, I am getting a little burned out and am maybe in a rut. I can't believe it has really been about 8 years already, that's crazy. And considering I started blogging even longer before that, is almost insane. This is not the end of blogging, but I think I need to scale back and give myself permission to not feel guilty about that. I have a couple things I am sharing with you next week, but not sure how much more than that for next week. I have some thinking to do.

Oven Bean and Cheese Burritos

These are super simple and easy  to throw together for a weeknight dinner. My kids love this. Perfect for Meatless Mondays!

Oven Bean and Cheese Burritos

1 can refried beans
1 package soft shells, (8 ct burrito size)
3 green onions, sliced
2 C shredded cheese (reserve 1/2 C)
1 jar of Taco Bell Mild Sauce (or 1 1/2 C or you favorite salsa)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Split refried beans, 1 1/2 C shredded cheese and scallions evenly among 8 burrito shells. 
Fold in opposite sides of the burrito, then fold in the other opposite sides of the burrito creating a rectangle .
Place (end sides down) in a greasded 13x9 baking dish. Make 2 rows of 4 burritos.
Pour mild sauce over the entire dish.
Bake for 1 hour.
Top with reserve 1/2 C shredded cheese the last 5 min of baking.

Enjoy!

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DIY Cabin Sign

I made this cute sign to go inside of our cabin. We have some other moose decor and so I chose to continue with that. I used my Silhouette machine to print off sticky vinyl and place it on top of a canvas that I had painted. Then I lined the outside of the painting with black gaffer tape I really like how gaffer tape finishes off the outside of a painting

Where Did We Go Wednesday? Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL

Norton Museum of Art

These are some of my favorites from the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach Florida. They offer a evening hours on Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. called Art After Dark. This was one of our evening excursions when my husband and I took our 15 year anniversary trip to Florida.

It is a free museum and there is a variety of different exhibitions and collections there. I would plan to spend about an hour here.

Drink Your Water

One of my New Year's goals is going to be to try to increase my water consumption. I know I am probably walking around slightly dehydrated. So here is an idea that you can inexpensively create at home to try to help you to remember to drink enough water. This gallon will last me two days and I can refill it whenever I need to.

Lower Carb German Chocolate Coconut Icing

German Chocolate Coconut Icing
1/2 C butter
1 C heavy whipping cream
6 T coconut palm sugar
1/2 tsp stevia powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
1 C chopped pecans

Directions:

Put butter in a sauce pan and let it melt.

Add whipping cream, stevia, palm sugar, vanilla and whisk in egg yolks.

Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble and then cook for about nine (9) minutes stirring constantly.

Stir nuts and coconut together in a cooled (stick in freezer while you cook) metal bowl and then poor the hot mixture over them to help with cooling.

Pour over coconut and pecans and mix.

Enjoy!

Where Did We Go Wednesday? Sandland Adventures Tour in Florence, OR

Sandland Adventure Tours

This was such a fun Excursion on our trip around Oregon and Northern California. I had read the reviews on Trip Advisor and they were all glowing and frankly I should have believed when everyone said They wish they had scheduled it for a longer tour. I wasn't sure if my children were going to be thrilled or scared on it so I went for the shorter sandrail tour. They do offer a tour in a huge giant dune buggy with a lot of other people but from what I read it is quite slow compared to this one and I really wanted to experience the thrill factor. And Thrill Factor it was

Before we even got there my husband was a little disappointed because he thought I was setting up the opportunity for him to drive us around on the dune buggies but after we did this to her he admitted that this was way more fun and he would not have done 75% of the things that ride guide did.

As a mom I was a little nervous having my kids be in the front seat and not be right next to me holding on to them but they were just fine and loved it. My son asked if we can come back again next year and do this. I know there are other tours like this in other parts of the country so when we travel to places that have them I think we will definitely have to check it out. I highly recommend this.

A couple pieces of advice is to bring along magic gloves because it is a lot chillier out there on the dunes then it is in land when you are going around so fast. Also if you have something that can cover your mouth and nose do that as well. The people we did the tour with had been prepared and brought bandanas to cover their faces with. If you don't just make sure you don't open your mouth even if you are screaming in Glee. You will end up with a mouth full of sand. And you will be blowing sand out of your nose for several days. But it is all fun and worth it.

Inexpensive and Easy Way to Remove a Popcorn Ceiling

How many of you inherited popcorn ceiling in a house you purchased that you did not put on and probably don't want it there?

That is certainly the case with our home and it's every where! I mean, everywhere! Ours even has some pretty sparkles in it that catch your eye. I know at one time this ceiling technique was en vogue, but not anymore and not for a long time.

I learned about this technique from my friend Caitlin and it works wonderfully. We have removed the popcorn ceiling in a few rooms now and it is relatively quick and easy to do the actual removal, but there are a few things you have to do first:

1. Gather your supplies: scraper, garden sprayer, ladder and cardboard or plastic
2. Remove everything from the room you are removing the popcorn ceiling in
3. Lay down plastic or cardboard over all of the floor
4. Remove any molding (if possible) that has popcorn texture on it. Take this outside and spray down with a trigger nozzle on a garden house, this is the quickest way to remove it from molding.

Here are your next steps in removing the popcorn ceiling:

1. Fill the garden sprayer with tap water.
2. Using the garden sprayer, spray down about a 3x3 section of the ceiling
3. Let it sit for a few seconds then use your scraper to scrape it right off, allowing it to fall on your plastic or cardboard.
4. Continue around the room working in small sections until you have finished.

Now clean up begins. If you laid cardboard or plastic over the entire floor, cleanup is quick and easy. Just roll up or fold up everything and throw it away. If any texture got on to your wall, just wash it off with water and a rag.
Allow the wet ceiling to dry for 24 hours before you paint it with primer and ceiling paint.
See how quick that was and certainly inexpensive if you already have a garden sprayer (or buy a garden sprayer on Amazon for under $15) and a scraper (or buy a scraper on Amazon for under $6).
We have A LOT more popcorn ceilings to remove, but this technique makes it easy and doesn't add the the expense of redecorating a room.

Happy New Year!